The Hunt: Visual Tutorial
Welcome! This tutorial will show off some of the features of the game in a step-by-step fashion. It is not exhaustive; there will invariably be things that are left out. However, I felt that this sort of guide is important enough that the game could not be properly released without it.
There is a substantial error in the reasoning behind one of the decisions I make in this tutorial. When I originally wrote it, I intended to do it correctly. Since I didn't, let's make the most of it; see if you can spot the mistake!
To begin our story, my acquaintance Tester has started a private game, and wants me to join it. He has given me a lengthy code, "1ee68bb7d10f2663f5b9a4592fbd27a05b07295f7f25038f61e624a8bee6fe16" (this code is unlikely to ever correspond to an available game again, so don't bother trying it 'for real').
Wide Picture: Main Lobby
I'm only in two active games, so I have room for this one. On the Main Lobby page, I paste it into the "Game Code" box, under "View a Private Game", and click "View Game":
Among other things, which are labeled here, we can see that although I'm viewing the game, I haven't joined it yet. I click the checkbox underneath the "Join" button and press it to enter the game.
Now I'm in, so I let Tester know. He starts the game, and before long the page automatically refreshes (since I have JavaScript turned on; if I didn't, I'd have to refresh manually to see that the game had started).
Via luck of the draw, I go first.
The best clue-finding strategy here is open for debate, but in this game, I'm going to choose to go to Alef in Hebrew. To get there, I select "D" and hit the "move" button, then "Alef" on the next page.
It's now Tester's turn. In the move log, we can see that it recorded both of my moves, and now a secret message: Shim'on is two territories away. Because we know he's in Hebrew, that means he must be in Dalet. My decision to move here seems to have paid off; Tester can't possibly beat me there.
Tester makes his moves and is now in "B". We don't know what he knows about the location of the Latin clue. He could have discovered it already, or he could be on a wild goose chase.
What we can deduce is that Shim'on is in Dalet, so I move there, first going to Bet, then Dalet.
Just as we expected.
Tester moves to C, then D. Backtracking? We know the clue for Latin isn't in D, so either the clue is in G, or Tester found it in B and is choosing to come here for some reason (probably a bad one; it would make more sense to look in Armenian or Greek, where he has a chance of finding their clues first and drawing more cards).
I want to draw cards, so I move to Hay, then Alpha.
We have a lot of new information here to process on my next turn. I've drawn three cards and gained information about the clue in this region.
Tester moves to G, where we figured the Latin clue must have been, then back to D, as he must.
Now it's my turn. I know Jason is two territories away, which puts him in Delta, Epsilon, or Zeta. I'm bound to find him before Tester, but every bit of an edge helps. I play my Monolingual card.
The log duly records my action, and the card has disappeared from my hand.
You might notice that Hay is now disabled in the location chooser. That's because I can't move there; when a card is played to lock down travel between territories or regions, it affects everyone. In this case, it makes no difference to me because I'm not going out of Greek this turn. I move to Beta, and learn that Jason is 1 territory away. Because he was 2 territories away before, that means he must be in Delta now, so I'll discover him on my next turn.
Tester is in a pickle. He's discovered a clue, but can't draw cards because he can't go to Alef. He has two options, both of them bad; he can go back to B, with the goal of going into Armenian on the next turn, or he can pass his turn in D and wait for the Monolingual block to expire.
As it turns out, he chooses to go to B. If he can find the Armenian clue before I do, it could give him an even chance for tracking down the Mole.
I move to Delta, then Epsilon. Jason is, sure enough, at Delta, so now I need only move into Ayb to get my new cards. Tester moves to E, then Eh. I move to Ayb, then play "Count Links to Mole".
I just found Tigran, which will give me three more cards, and the Mole is nearby, three territories away. He must be in either Beta, Gamma, or Yech, because those are the only places where the fastest route is exactly three from here.
Considering that Tester has no information about the Mole's location, and few cards, we can see that he's in for a rough time. Given that he landed on Eh, which is 4 territories away from here, he does know exactly where Tigran is (and that we just found him). He moves to Yech... and:
...plays Local Lockdown.
Turnabout is fair play, I suppose. This is inconvenient for me, since I want to leave this region to draw cards. But I have a tool Tester didn't:
Now Epsilon is open, and I move there, drawing 3 cards. Tester moves to Da, then Ben.
We have several options for tracking the Mole down. In this case, given our position at Epsilon, our previous knowledge (that he is in Beta, Gamma, or Yech), and our cards, we can deduce his location with just one action.
The Mole is three territories from Epsilon. Beta is 2 away, Gamma is 1 away, and Yech is 3 away. The Mole is in Yech. I move to Zeta. In just two more turns, this game can be wrapped up.
Tester is left with limited options. He can follow me and attempt to capture before I do, but since he doesn't know where my final destination is, and he doesn't have the turns to verify where the Mole is before capturing, it would be a blind guess. He plays what seems like the safe move and goes to Ayb; he'll draw cards and hope to get something that will save the day.
I move to Za, then to Yech. On my next move, I should win the game.
Tester plays "Count Links to Mole". At this point, while he doesn't have enough information to deduce the Mole's location on his own, he can guess from my actions where the Mole might be: not Hay, and not Gim. It is either Da or Yech.
He then plays "Take Another Turn" and moves to Zeta, then Za. But this effort seems to be in vain, because now it is my turn.
We should have correctly deduced the location of the Mole, but there's no reason to leave it to chance. I play "Guide to Mole". If I am right, I can capture on the next action. If I'm wrong, my card will spare me an embarrassing loss.
Everything is go for launch.
And that's game!
It was a stellar adventure for us, although not a fortunate one for our gracious host. Random events largely out of his control made the difference in this game. If just two clues had been in different locations, say, there were clues at B and Eh, Tester easily could have won. Or if the Hebrew clue had been at Gimel instead of Beta, I would have had to double back to get my cards, which would have thrown off the timing and made the last couple of turns a nailbiter.
Although the core mechanics of the game are logical, the rest of it is such that 'chance happeneth to them all'. Don't be overly discouraged if you get the worse, or worst, of an encounter. Luck tends to play the single strongest role in the outcome of any specific game; if you detect a difference in player skill, it's only likely to be after playing many games.
This concludes the tutorial for "The Hunt". I feel that you should have an adequate understanding of the game now to try it out for yourself. If you have questions that trial and error don't resolve, then check the 'About' page (which doubles as a manual). If even that isn't helpful, then you can always drop your inquiries by my email address.